U.S. tries to counter Hezbollah rebuilding efforts in s. Lebanon

By Reuters

Haaretz

Av 24, 5766

Concerned that Hezbollah has an early
advantage in rebuilding shattered south Lebanon, the Bush administration
is trying to speed up aid and encouraging Arab states to step in quickly,
United States officials said this week.

The White House is
"cracking the whip" on rebuilding efforts so Iranian-backed Hezbollah is
not seen taking the lead and winning any more support among the local
population, said a senior State Department official.

"I've said we
have got to get with this. These guys [Hezbollah] are out there with their
own bulldozers and what are we doing? It takes forever for us to start up
rebuilding projects," said the senior official, who asked not to be
identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

The U.S. came
under heavy criticism from Arab countries and some European governments
during the month-long war between Israel and Hezbollah that halted with a
UN-brokered truce this week.

Washington was criticized for refusing
to back calls for an immediate cease-fire, thereby appearing to give a
green light to extensive Israeli bombing in Lebanon.

The United
States has pledged $50 million so far to humanitarian aid in Lebanon, half
of which has been handed out to aid groups working in the conflict zone.
However, a senior U.S. official said it was unclear how much Washington
would contribute to rebuilding.

A donors conference on humanitarian
aid is set for Aug. 31 in Stockholm and a later one may be held to deal
directly with repairing Lebanon's shattered infrastructure. Bridges and
roads took a pounding in the conflict.

Any large-scale U.S.-funded
rebuilding effort could take months, just as it did in Iraq where the Bush
administration's efforts are still faltering.

Too
slow

American officials worry that Hezbollah and Iran will take
advantage of U.S. bureaucracy surrounding aid efforts and boost their own
credibility by getting in first.

"We have been delivering stuff
from the beginning [of the conflict] but we need to get something much
more substantial on the ground," said the State Department
fficial.

Hezbollah's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed after
Monday's truce that his guerrilla group would help fund repairs for about
15,000 bomb-damaged homes across Lebanon.

White House spokesman
Tony Snow said Hezbollah was using the same tactics as the Palestinian
militant group Hamas and al-Qaeda in getting on the ground quickly to
rebuild.

"This is an emerging tactic, which is commit acts of
terror, try to get people to fight against each other, and set up a
charitable foundation to hand out cash and crumbs to the victims," Snow
told reporters.

A senior U.S. aid agency official Bill Garvelink
said the near-term focus would be on helping to rebuild people's homes and
that American engineers were in the area assessing damage to bridges and
roads.

The U. S. is pushing Arab states like Saudi Arabia to
deliver aid rapidly to southern Lebanon. Saudi Arabia has committed half a
billion dollars to humanitarian relief and promised another billion for
rebuilding.

Israel is nervous that Iranian funding will be used by
Hezbollah and is pushing for tight restrictions on such assistance,
telling the Bush administration to tighten up any loopholes.